Topic: Bowie Knife

[dusmif]

Hi, I have jus received my T8 and I wish to sharpen my long aquired Bowie Knife, some 50 years ago.
Now, what would be the right bevel, and when one say for an example 40 deg what are we refering to since the knife has to 2
bevels on each side of the blade. ( chisels have one ) I am not so versed in this terminology, sorry to say.
From the photo, maybe one can see the the bevel is so small that I could hadly measure it, so any help is much appreciated.
Thanks
Alf

[Ken S]

Alf,

I have no doubt that you will be able to sharpen your fifty year old Bowie knife. However, I suggest you spend some learning/practicing time with inexpensive knives first. Jeff Farris, the founder of this forum make a good knife sharpening you tube. Search "Farris Tormek knife sharpening" to find it.

Enjoy your new Tormek.

Ken

[dusmif]

Alf,

I have no doubt that you will be able to sharpen your fifty year old Bowie knife. However, I suggest you spend some learning/practicing time with inexpensive knives first. Jeff Farris, the founder of this forum make a good knife sharpening you tube. Search "Farris Tormek knife sharpening" to find it.

Enjoy your new Tormek.

Thanks Mate, much appreciate your advice.
Alf

Ken

[jeffs55]

A Bowie knife is an all purpose knife. It was all a frontiersman had for a knife so he needed it to hack small timber or branches to make kindling and to skin animals and cut meat. About 40 degrees is a good all purpose edge, that means 20 degrees on each side added together equals 40. This edge will excel at nothing but will do good with anything.

[dusmif]

A Bowie knife is an all purpose knife. It was all a frontiersman had for a knife so he needed it to hack small timber or branches to make kindling and to skin animals and cut meat. About 40 degrees is a good all purpose edge, that means 20 degrees on each side added together equals 40. This edge will excel at nothing but will do good with anything.

Great jeff, now it is clear, I need it for general purpose task, nothing special, the important that it is sharp  thank you.
Alf

[Jan]

It is good that you have asked before grinding. To consider if he Tormek knife jig is suitable for your knife let us know how thick is your blade at the spine. Some Bowie knives may be ¼ inch (6 mm) thick and that is too much for the standard knife jig. Sharpening of thick knives requires special care otherwise you will not get the same bevel width on both sides. 

Jan

[dusmif]

Hi jan, thank you for your reply.
The thickness at the most wide part, because it seems that the back of the blade is not even, it looks like a tapperd back, the middle is the tickest section.
Alf

[Josu V]

Seeing the image I´m sure that, with the standard Jig SVM-45, you will have bevels with diferent size.
In this case is suitable to use a modified SVM-45 jig or one self-center jig.

In the absence of a solution for this, it is advisable to read this thread: https://www.tormek.com/forum/index.php?topic=2962.0
I have a modified SVM-45 jig and it works fine. It's not the perfect solution, but it's the best there is ...

I think too that 20 degrees per side (40º included) is an appropiate grinding angle for this kind of knife.

Regards.

[Antz]

Dusmif,
I recently sharpened a Filipino bolo knife about the same thickness as your Bowie. The bevels will be way off as in several degrees. I don’t have a modified jig so my solution was to use the angle finder every time I flipped the knife over and recalibrate the support bar to the same angle on each side. It was a pain but with patience it turned out pretty darn even and razor sharp. I’m not recommending what I did. Do as I say and not as I do. Also I wouldn’t sharpen a sentimental family knife (if that is what is is) as your first knife. Took me about 15 or so knives before I started feeling confident on the machine. Just my .02¢.

Best of luck,
Antz

Ps: maybe I just have a longer learning curve than others. I’m not trying to discourage you in anyway. Best of luck

[dusmif]

Seeing the image I´m sure that, with the standard Jig SVM-45, you will have bevels with diferent size.
In this case is suitable to use a modified SVM-45 jig or one self-center jig.

In the absence of a solution for this, it is advisable to read this thread: https://www.tormek.com/forum/index.php?topic=2962.0
I have a modified SVM-45 jig and it works fine. It's not the perfect solution, but it's the best there is ...

I think too that 20 degrees per side (40º included) is an appropiate grinding angle for this kind of knife.

Regards.

Thank you Josu for this infomation and advice, I am lucky that I asked for advice, other wise I would have ruined my Bowie Knife,.
Regards
Alf.

[dusmif]

Dusmif,
I recently sharpened a Filipino bolo knife about the same thickness as your Bowie. The bevels will be way off as in several degrees. I don’t have a modified jig so my solution was to use the angle finder every time I flipped the knife over and recalibrate the support bar to the same angle on each side. It was a pain but with patience it turned out pretty darn even and razor sharp. I’m not recommending what I did. Do as I say and not as I do. Also I wouldn’t sharpen a sentimental family knife (if that is what is is) as your first knife. Took me about 15 or so knives before I started feeling confident on the machine. Just my .02¢.

Best of luck,
Antz

Ps: maybe I just have a longer learning curve than others. I’m not trying to discourage you in anyway. Best of luck

Thank you Antz, it seems it is too complicated for me being a novice, so I think I better leave it untill either I find a fool proof and safe solution.
Alf.

[Ken S]

Alf, I think you have reached a wise conclusion. Your knife will wait for you until you feel confident to sharpen it. You will be more satisfied with your sharpening then.

Ken

[dusmif]

Alf, I think you have reached a wise conclusion. Your knife will wait for you until you feel confident to sharpen it. You will be more satisfied with your sharpening then.

Ken

It waited for 50 years, so another one or two would not make any differnce. 
Thank you
Alf

[dusmif]

Hi, just to justify my curiosity, I made a dummy run without turning the stone to see what is exactly is being said.
Painting the bowie with black felt pen and simulated the sharpening path I found what will happen ( I think ) if I try to do it this way, as You all said, after all.
In the photo I tried to show you what happened, the top image is the starched line marked with red and the bottom image it is how it is without the red line. I hope it is clear for you to see.
Thank you for your time and advice.
Regards
Alf.   

[wootz]

What we are saying is that if you now flip the knife jig and run the other side of the blade on the stone, the grind line will be higher; the grinds be of different height on the sides of the blade. Thick blades (i.e. where the blade centerline is above the jig centerline) get a higher bevel on the base side.